The Great Comeback?

Can we make it to our next major goal in time? It's all up to you. With only two full weeks remaining it's not looking great, but it's still totally possible.

We are now 65% of the way to the major "You-can-make-it!" milestone, and crawling back from our last week's setback.  Today marks the fourth of six "pledge drive" Thursdays. Glad portents everyone! We're 2/3 of the way there.

That means only two weeks left of summer school after today.

That also means we're 2/3 of the way to trying to hit our major goal, and we still have 35% of it to go.

Normally this blog doesn't ask for money so explicitly more than once a month. But since budgets for the coming 12 months or so need to be finalized by early August, and summer school is currently what I'm doing with about half of my regular writing time, I thought I'd take these six weeks to try and hit a goal that isn't "making it" but is "enough progress to think making it might be possible."

This is a screenshot from MY PATREON.  I'm currently 65% to my third goal. My third goal is based on the Kickstarter I ran last year. That money is still ready to fund a few months of full time writing. The goal I'm trying to reach now will keep me from having to drive for Lyft or something once I run through those Kickstarter funds allotted for the novel and keep me writing instead.

Only 35%% to go!!!

We are struggling back from last week's setback. We got the big donor we lost back (it was just a credit card problem) but we lost another. These things happen. As much as I completely adore my big ticket patrons, I would really love to have a lot of smaller donor. You know it's too easy to imagine that folks who light their cigars with hundred dollar bills will just throw money they don't really need at Writing About Writing, but what's really happening is that real people who aren't rich by any means are reaching deep into their generosity and when life happens that's no longer money they can afford not to have.

I get emails from folks who feel terrible because they have to pull back their support, and I try to assuage them that there is no rational world in which they need to apologize for not handing me money. So what I would love is if more people made small donations they could afford and kept the dozen or so folks from having to do all the heavy lifting. Yes, I have bills to pay, but there's no need for anyone to handle all of them.

There's a fourth goal and a fifth goal. The goals go all the way up to eleven. (I may have done that on purpose.)

For example one goal coming up in the next year or two has to do with my nannying day job. It is on a long, slow phase out because the kid in question is growing up. Projections for this coming school year are less than half of the hours I was needed last year. And they'll probably go down again next year around this time. If I can't make up the income, I'm eventually going to have to find a clock to punch in order to not starve.

The goal that I'm 65% of the way to hitting is not enough to cover the loss of said job. It's not enough to be a full time writer–even if ate nothing but raman forever. However, I am counting the performance of this "pledge drive" as something of a bellwether. If I can make just this one, smaller goal, then I'll consider myself reasonably safe for what's coming in the next couple of years. Every dollar I make now will mean that much longer before I have to start hitting my Kickstarter money, and the longer it will last.

Besides it only costs $5 a month to get biweekly selfies.

Epic cuteness could be yours!

Tomorrow's goals involve more stable living situations and even my retirement need, but I can deal with them tomorrow. For now I just want to know it's plausible that I could get there.

Since this blog's inception, due to the breathtaking generosity of patrons and donations from readers like you, we have been able to:

• Quit teaching night classes during the regular year and write instead
• Bring you more content
• Remove the annoying ads
• Up the number of high quality posts each week. 
• (Not to put too fine a point on it, but we've been able to keep bringing you content through what would otherwise have been some completely devastating life transitions that would have put most bloggers on hiatus.) 
• Gone from five posts a week to six. 
• And we've been able to take far fewer random days off. 

Here are some things I'd like to add if we continue to get more support:

• Even more posts, and more high-quality posts (less jazz hands)
• But also more and better jazz hands (on top of the less jazz hands) in the way of potpourris, plot arc posts, and guest bloggers.
• A seventh and even eight post each week (or more?)
• A greater number of carefully (perhaps even professionally) edited and revised posts
• More fiction!!
• Always and ever free longer fiction (books)
• An always, forever, ad free experience on Writing About Writing

If I can't reach the goal of this pledge drive by the end of the six weeks [especially if I don't even come "frustratingly close"], I may have to return to hosting ads on Writing About Writing and possibly other ways to monetize my work.  Ads will actually limit the rage of certain kinds of content I can post, and will probably involve no small amount of cleaning out old posts of the same. [Copyright stuff is a little less strident if you're noncommercial.] And if I really can't hit this goal, I have to think about day jobs–day jobs which would see me pulling back from writing.

*ominus thunder rumble*

That doesn't have to happen though.  For the mere cost of twelve dollars a year–just ONE DOLLAR a month–you you in on backchannel conversations with other patrons, polls, and conversations about future projects including sometimes me trying to get your input about what you'd like to see. But perhaps, most importantly, you'll be supporting an artist to continue making art and entertainment.

So if you like what I do and want to see me do more of it. Or if you don't want to see me have to do less of it. Or if you want to continue to see me do it without ads, please consider a small pledge. We wouldn't have gotten this far without our patrons, and we can't go any further without you.

Again here is that link:  https://www.patreon.com/chrisbrecheen

And of course if committing to a monthly amount isn't feasible, you can always make a one-time donation through my Paypal (at the top left of the screen).

[Note: In a revised form, perhaps with more bells and whistles, a version of this post will be going up for three more Thursdays.]